We're not sure what the magical monstrosities in the above slideshow were designed for (although rumor has it they were intended to be mobile power generators) or what they were originally called, but “Ultrabus” has a nice ring to it.

The bizarre diesel-electric trucks—made by grafting train cars onto nuclear-missile carriers—reportedly sport 12 independently powered wheels. A YouTube video says that the vehicles were scheduled for off-road testing in 2003, but “some kind of a mechanical failure” led to the abandonment of the program.

We think these Russian beasts deserve another chance at life. Perhaps they'll turn up in an especially hellish Project Car Hell sometime down the road. Anyone interested in building the world's first 12-wheeled all-terrain land yacht/RV?

Graham Kozak
- Graham Kozak drove a 1951 Packard 200 sedan in high school because he wanted something that would be easy to find in a parking lot. He thinks all the things they're doing with fuel injection and seatbelts these days are pretty nifty too.
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